As the wind blew in her hair, and the sun shone in her eyes, she looked past the mountains and towards the sky. It had just rained and the clouds looked significantly, marvelous. After every rain she would rush to the meadow and sit on the long, green, flowery grass. She would just stare into the clouds and mountainside until her mother would come and walk her home. Those were her clouds and no one else’s. No one else was allowed to set eyes on her beautiful clouds. Her clouds spoke to her and she spoke back, they were best friends. Although, that particular day, her clouds were the most beautiful she had ever seen.
She started to cry when the sun went down, and she thought, “The sun is just jealous of how beautiful my clouds are and today the sun doesn’t want to be outshone.” While her tears rolled down her cheeks, she remembered her birthday was tomorrow and she would be turning seven. As she gloomily walked home, she realized that she didn’t want anything but her clouds back. When she told her Mom this she told her to just wait and she would give her something better! So like any child would do, she excitedly waited for the next morning. It was 7:30, and she opened her eyes, blinked twice and ran downstairs to find her parents waiting with a small red polka dot box.
“How are my clouds going to fit into that box?” she said.
“Just open it, you’ll see!” Said her father. Obediently, she ripped open the box to find, not her clouds, but a camera.
“Happy Birthday!” Her parents screamed.
“But those aren’t my clouds and I don’t even know how to use this!” She said holding it up.
“It’s Ok we’ll show you how to save your clouds forever!” Her parents said. She was so thrilled as she and her parents ran to the meadow.
“Now”, she began, “I always sit right here and look that way.” she said pointing, “Oh, There’s my clouds!” she squealed.
“Hurry, save them!” Her parents told her how to turn on the camera, zoom in and out, hold it correctly and to snap the photo.
She grabbed the camera and snapped some photos and said, “Where are my clouds?”
“Oh yes, the most important feature,” her Mother said, and she pushed a button, and there were her clouds. Although she was so very young, it was then that she decided to become a photographer. She practiced every day and, like the speed of light, she grew up.
She moved far away, was married, had a newborn son, and in fact, was a photographer. One day, while she was visiting her now very old and fragile parents, she noticed something sticking out of a drawer in a frame. She pulled it out and then remembered, it was her first photograph and there were her beloved clouds. She said her goodbyes and rushed to the meadow, and there they were. Her clouds were waiting for her as if she had never left. She set up her camera in the exact spot she used to sit in and snapped a photo of her clouds for the very last time.